Road Rage and ashamed of it(a little long)

[PinkBike]

DH was riding home from the store, light turned green and he started to cross in the crosswalk where a guy had pulled up so far into the crosswalk that DH had to swerve around him. DH said some smart remark like "thanks for leaving me some room" and the guy shot back "maybe i oughtta just kick yer a$$" and DH said "yeh maybe you should." the guy started to get out of his car as DH started to lay his bike down right in the street. that was when the cop in his marked car RIGHT BEHIND them flashed his lights once and beeped his siren. it knocked some sense into both of 'em.
men . . .

[Jolt]

Ugh...some people can be such anal orifices! Can't say I blame you for your reaction, but agree with those who have said the best and safest thing is to take down their license plate number and report it. I can relate to how you felt--haven't had anyone actually try to run me off the road but have certainly had stupid stuff yelled at me from cars. In fact, just a few days ago I was riding along a pretty busy road, on the outside of the right lane, and the passenger in a car in the LEFT lane yelled "watch out!" when there was absolutely nothing I needed to "watch out" for. It scared the heck out of me, and I wished I could ride faster to catch up with this jerk and give him a piece of my mind--what makes him think he has the right to do that; he wouldn't have said anything if I had been in my car instead of on a bike! I felt pretty agitated the rest of the ride, and was annoyed with myself for letting it get to me...

[chicagogal]

Last weekend I had just passed a stretch of road that I dread, because cars go way to fast and visibility is bad, and had reached a VERY WIDE road in a QUIET NEIGHBORHOOD. I was riding to the right and there was plenty of space for cars to pass me. As one did, someone shouted out of the window "get out of the road!" Seriously? I wanted to ask him where exactly he wanted me to go, but decided against it. I too worry that road rage will turn excessively violent, so I ignored the drivers as they easily passed me - luckily they didn't try to actually run me off the road. It does amaze me how ignorant of cyclists drivers can be.

[Tuckervill]

Then there's the guy...

I was stopped at a stop sign where I had to get on Rt 4 near Woodstock, VT. i could see a car coming up the hill behind me, and I knew I could beat him through the intersection, so I went ahead and crossed the highway and got on the shoulder on the opposite side, and was pedaling slowly along the shoulder (still recovering from the hill that smote me).

The car behind me negotiated the stop sign and pulled up beside me. The old Vermonter rolled down the window and yelled, "You be AWWWful CAAAAHful out here on this road!"

Okay, I will.

"It's dangerous!" ...pause while still driving beside me... "You live around heaah?"

I'm just going up here to the campground.

"Oh, okay then!"

Thank you! I said.

The whole thing cracked me up. He was sweet, and doing me a favor.

Karen

[GraysonKelly]

Hi All,
I wanted to share this with you. The day after the "incident" with those girls, I was once again out on the road. I went a different route than the one I was on when the incident happened and was riding up a hill that I swear was straight up...I'm serious this thing was probably a 15% grade or more and I rode up it. There was no shoulder to speak of, cars were passing me carefully and patiently and when I got to the top, this guy coming from the opposite direction stops in the middle of the road, gives me a thumbs up and says, "Awesome job on that hill! You go girl! Be careful." That made me feel better than climbing the hill.
Gray

[sundial]

Will this be your regular route now? Glad that you encountered a nice motorist and a few words can go a long way....

[Aggie_Ama]

A good driver after an unfortunate incident always helps me.

Last night I was out doing a loop I call the Dog Loop because there are a lot of loose dogs, which has no point to this story.

Any way, we have had many incidents on this route: hit by a coke can, water bottle thrown, almost eaten by a pit bull and a firecracker thrown at us. But is a semi-challenging route on quiet roads, obviously littered with the pond scum of humans. So I am chugging along and a nice Ford F150 comes by VERY close. There were no other cars on the road and his actions were completely unwarranted. We have a 3 ft courtesy law but try telling that to anyone who drives in Texas. As I was still fuming at the lack of courtesy I came to a stop sign and got a "Hey!" but a friendly one. I look and see two teenagers sitting on the porch of this home that normally has semi-tall weeds, a disobedient mutt dog the likes to run into the road and flies a confederate flag waving in a friendly manner. I waved back and rode home, content that there are nice people. And to boot, several of those incidents have been with teenagers on this road and I generally classify all teens in my town as spoiled punks who need a spanking. It was nice to have two debunk my stereotype, maybe they have been raised right despite my intial impression of their home.

[GraysonKelly]

Will this be your regular route now? Glad that you encountered a nice motorist and a few words can go a long way....

I'm not sure I could handle that hill every time I ride, but I'm sure I'll be adding it to my ever expanding list of favorite routes. You are very right, that guy was wonderful. I almost cried.
Gray